The political roots of Ursula von der Leyen
Von der Leyen emerged from the Lower Saxony branch of the CDU. She is the daughter of Ernst Albrecht, who was premier of that federal state from 1976 to 1990 and exhibited a pronounced tendency towards elitism and the ideology of National Socialism (Nazism).
In 1976, Albrecht’s book, The State, Idea and Reality: Outlines of a political philosophy, was published by the national-conservative Seewald Verlag. The work expresses his contempt for democratic legislation and the broad masses of the population, “the mob”, as well as his preference for Old Testament forms of rule.
“If we succeed in bringing people of above-average capabilities to governance,” he writes, “an autocracy or the rule of the few will be able to create a better order than the rule of the people”.
“The rule of the people”, he grumbles, “especially direct rule, is essentially such that decisions are not determined by the insight of the insightful (elite), but rather by the common average level based on the majority of the population”.
This mentality of a maturely ruling elite was associated with National Socialist mindsets in the Lower Saxony CDU. In the 1950s, the Lower Saxony CDU admitted into its ranks members of the extreme right-wing German Reich Party and Socialist Reich Party, as well as the national-conservative German Party.
In 1976, Albrecht made Hans Puvogel his minister of justice. During his tenure, Puvogel was particularly active in combatting notions of more liberal penal and rehabilitation systems. He had already set out justification for his stance in a 1935-1936 doctoral thesis. There, he wrote of the “inheritance of criminal tendencies”, of “constitutionally predisposed criminals” and “inferior people”, who would have to be “eliminated from the community”. “Only a person of value to the race” would have “a right to exist within the national community”.
The state government under Ernst Albrecht used every opportunity to court former Nazis. In a 1978 speech, Deputy Premier Wilfried Hasselmann (CDU) greeted the Association of Knight’s Cross Recipients, a league of former Wehrmacht (Hitler’s army) officers and SS men, certifying that they had “shown courage and given an example to others”. Hasselmann declared he was “deeply impressed by the solidarity of your order. You have fulfilled your duty as soldiers in an exemplary manner. This will continue to be evident to a younger generation”.
The Lower Saxony CDU member, Hans Edgar Jahn, stood as candidate for the first European elections in 1979. The 1943 publication of his book on European policy-making, The Storming of the Steppes - Jewish-Bolshevik imperialism, was seen to have qualified him for this position. The book predicts the final destruction of Judaism and the assemblage of the all “Germanic peoples” around a common hearth. “But even after thousands of years”, writes Jahn, “humanity and especially our youth will sound one particular name with respect and awe: Adolf Hitler”.
Albrecht’s daughter, Ursula, thinks much of her father, who is now suffering from dementia. In 2003, she stated in an interview that he was for her “a wonderful counsellor”. She said they shared a common “core belief”, which was based on “Christian and traditional family values”.
Von der Leyen has carried this conviction throughout her political career, beginning it where her father once ruled. When he lost the premiership of Lower Saxony to Gerhard Schröder (Social Democratic Party, SPD) in 1990, she felt it was an affront on the part of voters and joined the CDU at 31 years of age. In a later interview, she said she had thought at the time: “An intolerable disgrace”.
Already by 2003, she had been appointed to the post of minister of social affairs, women, family and health in the Lower Saxony state government, led by the CDU. She distinguished herself mainly by pushing for cuts in social spending. She managed, for example, to abolish benefits for the blind.
The social attacks, begun by the SPD-Green Party government under Gerhard Schröder in 1998, were continued by the CDU-SPD coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) from 2005. As federal minister for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth, von der Leyen pressed through parental allowance benefits, specifically designed to encourage higher income earners to produce more children, while financial support for poor mothers and fathers was reduced.
As minister of labour and social affairs from 2009 to 2013, she later ensured that funds for the unemployed were curtailed and financial penalties for recipients of unemployment benefits implemented more efficiently. Many “reforms” (i.e., social cuts) later, she took over the post of defence minister to advance the economic and geopolitical interests of German imperialism throughout the world. Faced with widespread anti-war sentiment within the population, she has devoted herself to the revitalisation of German militarism.